Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Did Seth Williams Spend Valentine's Day With The Feds?

AP/Matt Rourke
By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Reports and all kinds of rumors swept through the city today regarding Seth Williams and the feds.

The first reports involved the feds allegedly escorting Williams out of the D.A.'s office early this morning. Next, the D.A. was supposedly sighted at the federal courthouse at 6th and Market.

Meanwhile, like a pack of vultures, a crowd of reporters and TV camera crews was gathered outside the D.A.'s office, as if they were expecting some sort of big announcement today as the Seth Williams death watch went into full swing.

Williams had already announced last Friday that he wouldn't seek a third term as D.A. in the May 16th Democratic primary because of ethical violations. He was fined $62,000 by the city's Ethics Board for accepting $175,000 in undeclared gifts and income.

A federal grand jury is known to be probing those gifts and income, to find out whether they were really quid pro quos. There was also a question of whether Williams reported those gifts and income to the IRS, which would amount to further troubles for our beleaguered D.A.

One big reason why there was so much speculation today about Seth and the feds: the grand jury probing the D.A. was set to expire today, but has been extended for at least two weeks.

The other hot rumor of the day was that the U.S. Attorney's office out of New Jersey [the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia had washed their hands of the Seth probe] was investigating whether one of those gifts given to the D.A. was in exchange for favorable treatment in a criminal case.

At philadelinquency.com, Master Blaster wrote, "Is today the day of the big indictment? . . . I think we're going to find out real soon why Rufus (that's his real name) decided to hang it up and not run for reelection."

But by late afternoon, there were no announcements forthcoming.

 For further evidence of why our corrupt D.A. should resign from office immediately, please read the stories posted on this blog about the South Philly bank job that the D.A. was reluctant to prosecute, and the cases of domestic violence that the D.A.'s office wouldn't prosecute.

As a public service, while the Seth Williams death watch is in progress, Big Trial will publish several more stories this week about the carnage our corrupt D.A. has inflicted upon the city.

Stay tuned.


  1. Ralph - is the Inquirer closed on Tuesdays? Or did their bosses block PDQ and BigTrial from their browsers? There seems to be no other coverage of today's events, yet. Any updates?

  2. I just updated the story to include some new rumors and the extension of the grand jury investigating Seth.

    Don't know what's going on at the Inky. Maybe it's time for mandatory sensitivity training again.

  3. Very interesting. Was it 18 months, from 8/15/2012? Or was it already longer than that?

    The favorable treatment alleged - was it a "get out of jail" treatment, or a "prosecution for hire" treatment? Because I don't think they've found the latter yet.

    1. Correction: 8/15/2015, when the first indications of the grand jury surfaced.

  4. Don't know specifics on either one of those questions. I must need better informants.

    1. Just keep printing rumors. Just the way middle school works.

    2. Well, let's give the Feds a few days to do their work and then we'll talk.

    3. rumors are good, means this criminal DA's investigation is not dead yet....the feds have plenty of time, plenty of resources to do their work, that's how it works...it's why a seemingly untouchable congressman named Chaka Fattah is now in a jail cell, as is his deadbeat thief of a son...

      to the Feds: keep on looking at the fraudulent nonprofit's books, keep on looking at his political action committee's finances and expenses, add in the 162,000 in bribes and kickbacks from all those lawyers and well connected people, I'm certain none of them ever looked to Seth for a favor, dismissal of a felony charge for thei clients, etc....give me a break....I see that "ORANGE JUMPSUIT" size XXXL i Seth's future so he can fit his fat head in it......

  5. Anon 10:33 -

    Are you suggesting that if the Feds looked at every campaign donation, they wouldn't find a particular one which led to an official act by his office?

  6. I am sure the feds will have to make sure they do not invent any crimes against Williams, like they do for the general public, or have jail bait witnesses to testify against him. As Williams is wise to the tactics prosecutors use everyday.

    I never say unlimited time and unlimited resources when talking about prosecutors, I always say no ethics and no accountability. Mr. Williams is one of a long line willing to sell their fellow citizens for their careers.

    1. if he was so wise, how could he find himself in a vise, from not one, not 2 but 3 possible angles....the nonprofit (similar to the one which led to Chaka Fattah's recent demise), the so called gifts from well connected friends including those very same defense attorney's that represent felons in the same courtrooms his prosecutors are representing the public in, and his campaign fund, abruptly dissolved in late 2016 possibly because of misappropriated funds....

      he makes close to 200K a year, but considering all of the extra $$, free roofs and other repairs, the sweetheart 1000 per month token rent deal he secured from a wealthy realtor for his now EXWIFE" (later determined the proper rent should have been 2500 for that same home)....add in the deal he made with his EX-GIRLFRIEND in the 2000 tire slashing episode that he neglected to prosecute for a full 8 months....those were Philly owned vehicles used by his security detail that were vandalized, he knew from day one who did it yet she eventually got a "get out of jail" pass with restitution....

      invent crimes, I don't think the feds will have any trouble coming up with at least a few fraudulent incidents from this criminal...

    2. Arrogance and the fact that prosecutors never following the same rules as they expect others to follow. I am sure there is more than what has been made know to the public that he has violated.I doubt if he will be indicted or face any jail time as prosecutors would have recommend for politicians or members of the public.

      I am glad to see Williams demise, the public does need to know what goes on, he condemned others while he was the biggest villain. Williams is a criminal but I don't think he is a bit worried about paying for his crimes.

      But prosecutors do invent crimes, I know that positively, I have witnessed the lies and outright arrogance.

    3. The original campaign fund was closed out at the end of 2015, not 2016.

      The last $8272 was transferred to the new campaign fund on 12/31/2015.

      However, you note that on 1/1/2016, the new campaign fund had an opening balance of $0.

      Where did the $8272 go?

  7. Not sure how the Feds will find the quid pro quo when it's covered by grand jury secrecy.

  8. The feds are the ones that do the covering up, they can't indict Williams, he knows too much. I say there is no indictment coming, this was his punishment. He will be allowed to walk free.

    Prosecutors change and rearrange grand jury transcripts as well as give juries partial transcripts for consideration, whatever it takes to get a conviction. They also stop a witness in mid sentence if they think that it's an answer that can hurt their case and redirect their questioning to get the desired answers.

    1. the only walk I want this lying thieving excuse of a DA to do is the "perp walk" down Market Street....

      and you are right, prosecutors will do anything possible to get a conviction, whether or not the person being charged is innocent or not....there's more than a few prosecutors in the BIlly Doe/better known as Danny Gallagher who should be spending some time in jail...

      at least the feds are investigating this fraud of a DA before charging him, not so in the infamous wrongful prosecution of those archdiocesan priests and teacher in recent years.....they only investigated that lying accuser Gallagher after handing down those indictments.......

    2. That's not really the issue here. The issue is that unless the Feds can match the list of donors to the list of county grand jury witnesses, they won't find the quid pro quo. That's where the mischief took place.

      Whether a federal investigation can breach county grand jury secrecy is the question. The press generally can't.

  9. Do you think the feds want to put the effort into doing the work and unless I do not understand how is it we know what we know about Mrs. Gallagher ?

    I still see Williams skating.

    1. Finding a quid pro quo involving a prosecutor is the holy grail here. It changes their case from a laundry list of mail fraud and honest services charges to a Hobbs act case. It's also MUCH easier to bring in front of a jury. They need only a payment, an agreement, and an official act.

      I am quite sure that they are going line by line though those documents and querying the DA's staff on each one, not because it's hard work, but because it's easy work. When they find the matches, it will come crashing down.

      The only tricky part is that the matches may be a combination of defendants, attorneys, witnesses, and victims.

  10. Thanks for the explanation. Sounds good to me, but what if one components is missing,like a payment, what if its a promise of favorable treatment, is that the same, or a gift, or future support in an election ?
    As for credibility of the witnesses and victims would that be a factor, juries have a hard time believing non-credible witnesses, as they should.

  11. The interesting thing is that a campaign contribution is subject to a higher standard than a gift in terms of when it becomes a bribe or extortion. Begging for a campaign donation is legit, while begging for a gift is risky.

    Theoretically, the public benefits from campaigns (ha) while the individual benefits from gifts.

    The possible problem for the DA is that these lines are blurry. With all these funds being potentially commingled, I can see the Feds claiming the campaign fund was just a front for more gifts.

    But I think they'll find what they need regardless.

